At the risk of boring everyone to death I'd like to weigh in with a few
thoughts on the flag question.

I think Kevin is absolutely right and makes a very subtle and astute point
that the shifting culture has shifted the meaning of the Confederate flag
(I still call it the "rebel" flag).  I think many people put the flag
decal on their vehicles not as a racist statement but as a badge of
membership in the old southern, Scotch-Irish warrior class--"I'm a
fighter, a rebel, someone you can't control."  On another level, I think
the SCV fights for the flag because they see themselves waging a
counterattack in the culture wars--they're fighting against what they
perceive as rampant political correctness.  Even though they are
comfortable middle-class folks and members in good standing of the
dominant economic and political group, this group of otherwise fine folks
became "angry white men" when they sensed they had lost their unquestioned
dominance of the culture--the media and the schools no longer promulgate
their values or affirm their supremacy.  Getting the rebel flag onto
official Virginia license plates was a great victory for them because they
proved to all Virginians (most importantly, to themselves) that they still
have clout.  I doubt that they have any serious racism in their hearts,
but the whole point of getting the flag onto license plates was to rub
this obnoxious, racially-charged symbol in the faces of black people and
white "liberals" every day.  It's supposed to be irritating, else it
wouldn't be any fun--it's a blatant statement of political and cultural
supremacy--you own the "elite, liberal media," but look here, we own the
General Assembly.  The funny thing is, I haven't seen but a very few of
these license plates.

There is a fascinating article about the flag in the March "Atlantic
Monthly," available on-line, by Joshua Green, a descendant of the designer
of the battle flag, General PGT Beauregard.  After "de wah" Beauregard
gave a speech beneath a banner that read "Equal Rights—One Flag—One
Country—One People."  (How's THAT for a bumper sticker?)  Beauregard
declared that the country needed "a broad sentiment of nationality, which
shall embrace the whole country, and uphold the flag of the Union."

Henry Wiencek
Charlottesville

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